Consumers haven't outgrown loyalty. They've outgrown the way loyalty is delivered

Think back to life before smartphones. We carried cash and bank cards in our wallets, printed boarding passes before heading to the airport and kept concert tickets somewhere safe until the big night. We took cameras on holiday, printed photographs when we got home and relied on physical maps to find our way around unfamiliar places. Our wallets, pockets and bags carried much of what we needed to move through the day.

Then almost 20 years ago, Steve Jobs got on a stage in San Francisco and changed the world forever with the launch of the first iPhone.

Today, our phones help us navigate almost every part of our day. We use them to bank, pay for coffee, book flights, order groceries, unlock our cars and book doctor’s appointments. They’ve become the one thing we almost always have with us. They’ve also made us used to a life of convenience, where anything is a quick tap away.

But not everything has caught up to this seamless way of life. Most of us still lug around physical loyalty cards when shopping, or we swipe through numerous apps looking for the right one. Unlike payments, which underwent rapid digital transformation because consumers demanded speed and security, loyalty evolved retailer by retailer. Each brand built its own card, app or ecosystem. The result is that while payments became simpler, loyalty often became more fragmented.

When the most annoying part of shopping is looking for your rewards card, you know it’s time for an upgrade. That matters because loyalty programmes have become an important part of how South Africans shop and manage household budgets.

Our wallets have gone digital – loyalty should too

We’re all feeling the squeeze on our budgets, and loyalty points and rewards can make a real difference to the size of your shopping basket. According to BrandMapp research, 77% of loyalty card users say loyalty programmes influence where they buy groceries, while 51% say they influence where they buy fuel. Some 41% of consumers prefer buying from stores where they belong to loyalty programmes. Then why is it such a pain to access them? Making loyalty cards easier to access gives you a better chance of collecting rewards every time you shop.

That’s what we hear from people using the (my)cards app, which brings the rewards programmes people already use together in one place. Shoppers are tired of carrying bulky wallets and forgetting their cards at home. They want fewer things to think about and an easier way to access their loyalty programmes when they need them. Already, 45% of consumers use virtual cards for convenience, security or rewards.

Consumers no longer judge loyalty against another retailer's loyalty programme. They compare it with the best digital experiences they have every day. If they can order dinner, hail a ride and check into a flight in seconds, hunting for a loyalty card feels unnecessarily outdated.

This is where I believe the future of loyalty is heading. Convenience has become part of the customer experience and, increasingly, part of brand loyalty too.

The future of loyalty is all about convenience

A modern loyalty experience should fit naturally into everyday life. Bringing your existing loyalty cards together in one app on your phone makes it easier to access your rewards whenever you shop. This is where (my)cards comes in as a loyalty companion, giving you a simpler way to manage your programmes and get more value from them.

As our phones continue to replace the things we once carried, loyalty has a natural place there too. The technology already exists, and shoppers are already embracing digital cards. The opportunity now is to make loyalty as easy to access as the rest of our everyday digital lives, so the value people have already signed up for is always within reach.